Gay 'marriage' ballot
measures running their course
By Cheryl Wetzstein,
washingtontimes.com from the Web, January 7, 2007
The legislative approval of a
marriage constitutional amendment in Massachusetts last week means that at least
three states have a good chance of having such measures on their 2008 ballots.
But this is a considerably smaller crop of amendments than in previous
elections, and there are signs that the state amendment strategy may have run
its course.
The push to get voters to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman
in state constitutions started in 1998, when traditional-values activists in
Hawaii and Alaska used the tactic to overrule state Supreme Court decisions
legalizing same-sex "marriage."
The amendment strategy took off after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
legalized same-sex "marriage" in November 2003, and now 27 states have
voter-approved marriage amendments.
But no other state court has followed the Massachusetts court -- in fact, nine
recent court decisions have upheld state marriage laws -- "so, yes," the issue
has "died down," said Glen Lavy of the Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based
legal organization active on same-sex "marriage" cases.
"But that doesn't mean that people are less interested ... and don't forget
California," he said. The California Supreme Court will hear arguments on
its same-sex "marriage" case this spring. If it reverses the state
appellate court and finds a constitutional right to same-sex "marriage," "there
will be a marriage amendment on the [California] ballot next year," Mr. Lavy
said.
Meanwhile, of the 23 states without marriage amendments:
• Florida, Indiana and Massachusetts are on track to put an amendment before
voters in 2008. Florida has an amendment petition drive under way;
lawmakers in the other states must pass the amendments a second time before they
can be put before voters.
• Lawmakers in Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina and Pennsylvania
debated but failed to pass amendments in their last sessions. Amendment
bills could resurface, but would face strong opposition.
• New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and California Assemblyman Mark Leno have taken
stands in favor of legalizing same-sex "marriage." In 2005, California
lawmakers made history when they passed a bill creating "gender-neutral"
marriage. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it, saying the
people or the courts should decide the issue. Last year, Rhode Island
lawmakers introduced pro-homosexual "marriage" bills for the ninth time,
homosexual rights advocates said.
• In Illinois, a petition drive to put a nonbinding marriage amendment on the
2006 ballot failed, and the Arizona marriage amendment was defeated at the
polls. It's not known if Illinois activists will try for another
amendment, but Mr. Lavy said that "there's a good chance" a new Arizona
amendment will appear.
• Connecticut, New Jersey and Vermont appear to have settled the same-sex
"marriage" issue by enacting civil union laws, and there are signs New Hampshire
lawmakers may follow suit.
• Delaware, Maine, New Mexico, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming do not
appear to have much, if any, activity on the amendment issue.
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